Commercial cards have become so much more than a piece of plastic and 16-digit number that completes a transaction. Not only are they an important payment tool in a treasurer’s kit, but also the cornerstone of a working capital management programme.

Adoption of real-time payments is accelerating rapidly, driven by regulatory pressures and the threat of non-bank competition. Joy Macknight looks at the different paths taken in the quest to future-proof domestic payments infrastructures.

The renminbi is now the world's fifth most popular international payment currency, and has the fourth placed Japanese yen in its sights. Financial policy reform and the introduction of new clearing centres have been crucial to this rise, but will the troubles the Chinese economy has experienced in the past few months derail its progress?

New European legislation is allowing Orwell's Ipagoo to rewrite banking by allowing customers to manage accounts in multiple countries and different currencies, the company's co-CEO tells Jane Cooper. 

The foreign exchange market currently finds itself under unprecedented scrutiny. Rocked by scandals over benchmark practices and investigations into the legitimacy of certain trading practices, is the asset class doing enough to get itself back on the straight and narrow? 

Mobile has long been a buzzword in banking, but while bankers almost unanimously agree on the significance of the mobile platform, there is still a lot of uncertainty about how they can monetise it.

Thanks to the latest biometric and voice recognition technologies, banks are able to adopt a 'big brother' approach on the trading floor, monitoring their traders for rogue dealings and foul play.

The explosion in payment choices in recent years has left consumers confused as banks struggle to keep up with the latest innovations. This has made the role of the merchant acquirer more important than ever, as Jane Cooper discovers. 

Frank Abagnale's story of cheque forger-turned-good guy is well documented in print and on film. His career has seen him work in partnership with 41st Parameter CEO and founder Ori Eisen. They tell Jane Cooper about their work to stay one step ahead of the cyber criminals.